Introducing Active Partnerships; the new name for CSPs

As the network of County Sports Partnerships gather in Nottingham today for their annual Convention, they have announced the launch of a new brand name ‘Active Partnerships’.

Established as a nationwide network nearly 20 years ago, the Partnerships have become a significant part of the sport and physical activity landscape across England. They have successfully delivered a number of high impact programmes, built strong local networks and adopted the highest standards of governance.

But as Lee Mason, Chief Executive of Active Partnerships explains;

“We recognise that the needs of our partners and communities are changing, that levels of physical activity remain worryingly low and are affected by a complex system of influences which means no single organisation or intervention can create sustainable change at scale.

So we need think and act differently, and over the last year we are have been changing to strengthen our approach to better tackle these issues. This has included confirming our long-term future partnership with Sport England to help deliver the national strategy, Towards an Active Nation, and a shift from programme delivery to a whole system, place based approach.

Our name change to Active Partnerships is the culmination of this work and we believe it better reflects our role and purpose.

The term Active highlights the broad spectrum of sports and physical activities we embrace, the dynamic and agile way that we approach our work and our mission to increase levels of engagement in sport and physical activity.

The term Partnerships reinforces the collaborative nature of our work and our core purpose to create the conditions for an active nation by engaging communities, building understanding and insight, brokering cross sector partnerships and influencing policy and practice.

The nationwide network is supported by the Active Partnerships national team, the improvement and innovation agency that leads, supports and represents Active Partnerships. Our focus is on learning what works locally and driving collaboration and impact across the network.

We look forward to having a positive impact on individuals and communities over the coming years and working with partners to think differently about how we unlock the power of sport and physical activity and create the conditions to achieve an active nation.